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Uncovering The Lost Missions: The Rise Of Clovis

I apologize this blog’s late arrival, but dang man does this episode have a lot to talk about! I’ve spent days organizing all my thoughts on this one! I mean, I can write a pretty good-length in-depth blog on a TCW episode that focuses on a battle, but if you want to get my thinker thinking and my thoughts spread out in thousands of words, give me a character-driven, emotionally-focused episode like The Rise Of Clovis! Better make sure you’re comfortable, because you’re probably going to be spending a good chunk of your day reading this one…NOTE: Contains spoilers from Episode II, Episode III, Episode VI, the Clone Wars Microseries, TCW episodes Senate Spy, Overlords, The Lawless, Conspiracy, An Old Friend, The Rise Of Clovis

So while Anakin, Padme, and Clovis made quite the escape after the craziness on Skipio, the Banking Clan dudes (who I’m now aware are Muuns) are freaking out amongst themselves now that Padme has all their profiteering secrets in the palm of her hand. Though I just can’t help but wonder… is there some unwritten rule that all Muuns have to have goofy-sounding voices? I mean, it’s not something you’d think about just watching Episode II when San Hill talks, but then you go and watch the Clone Wars microseries when Durge was defending them on Muunilist and yeah, they all sound a little funny. And that’s been proved in these last couple of episodes once again. A part of me is snickering at their voices while a part of me reminds me that this is a serious situation… it’s quite a battle, I must say 🙂 So anyway, they’re trying to make sure their plans go unnoticed, and one of them in particular has a brief meeting with none other than Darth Sidious. First the Kaminoans and now the Muuns? Is it just me or is Palpatine weaving a common thread of treachery in this season? The Muun dude’s a bit concerned about this situation at hand with the Senator’s escape, but Sidious reassures him that the Muuns aren’t in any kind of trouble and that he’ll be fine… or so he says.
Meanwhile, our heroes just got off the ship back on Coruscant to Yoda’s greeting. “Adventures on Skipio, have you had?” ohhh Yoda you don’t know the half of it. Evidently, they’ve all met, including Yoda and Clovis… one has to wonder how and when that happened, but eh, it might not be anything special, perhaps they were both in line at Starbucks or something. But Yoda came out to meet them mainly because Palpatine was to have a meeting concerning the whole Banking Clan debacle.
As soon as we get into the meeting, it’s clear that Rush Clovis is no fan favorite simply by the words of Bail Organa “EXCUUUUUSE ME IF I DON’T TRUST HIM AFTER WHAT HE DID!”. And I’m guessing that everyone else there’s probably thinking similarly. Clovis tries to calm the waters and again tries to make it clear he’s a changed man and he’s got serious dirt on this huge-deal situation. Even Padme shows her sliver of support (though as expected, Anakin’s kinda on Bail’s side of the matter). He sounds pretty sincere in all of it, though… I suppose we’ll have to see whether or not a Nexu can changes its stripes (see what I did there?? 😀 ) Ultimately though, Palpatine in his always-convincing manner decides that they should cut Clovis some slack and assigns him and Padme to the case once more. And at the words “Clovis and Padme must work closely…”, you can just see Anakin flinch just the slightest (Anyone else wondering if Palpatine’s trying to make Anakin freak out? Either way, he’s doing a pretty good job). As everyone departs from the meeting, Anakin singles his significant other out of the crowd in 1.2 seconds and totally blows up “WHY DID YOU AGREE TO WORK WITH HIM?!”. It’s getting kind of sad how many times Padme has to tell him “I’m not into Clovis, I’m just trying to do the right thing!” as of late. And then Anakin does what no smart husband would ever do… he “suggests” she bail out, no, he demands she do so! I’m all “oh no he didn’t!” and Padme probably would’ve too if it weren’t for the fact she was trying to avoid unwanted attention, instead she attempts to re-remind Anakin what an important thing trust is between them, only for Clovis to awkwardly interrupt. Aw man, how long was he standing there?? So now Anakin looks like the bad guy in all of this, still going all “mother hen” on Padme. I had thought about something interesting in all of this, he wasn’t nearly this crazy back in Season 2’s Senate Spy. Yes, he was a bit edgy, and yes, he was both not a fan of Clovis and concerned for Padme’s safety, but he certainly didn’t go to this level of angriness and jealousness, at least, he didn’t seem to. I think that it partially has to do with the fact that Anakin’s not as in control as he was back when all he had to do was tip the ship and lock them down a distance apart. Now, that little control freak side of him is grappling for something to hold on to in his mission to protect Padme, and ironically she’s in less danger this time around. That, and well… ever since some time in Season 3, Anakin’s gotten a bit more tense, a bit more trigger-hair, a bit more scary when he gets mad… slowly but surely coming up to where it all accumulates in Episode III. Plus, Padme’s fake flirting probably never sat well with Anakin, even with it being fake (like perhaps the hug she gave Clovis to keep him from noticing Anakin). A part of him stillllll worries… *sigh*. Get it together, man! So Padme shoots Anakin a “This conversation isn’t over” look and heads off with Clovis to get to work. Meanwhile, Dooku and Sidious conjure up a little plan that could potentially get Clovis back on their side of the game…
All while that drama was ensuing, Anakin found solace in his Jedi quarters, doing some metalwork. It reminded me of the bit from Jude Watson’s Jedi Quest #1, about how Anakin still enjoyed working with machines because it let him fix something in a world where not everything can be fixed. Makes complete sense in the midst of this difficult situation. I have to wonder what he’s actually fixing up, though… looks kinda like a droid, maybe? Oh can we talk about the fact that we get to see Anakin’s quarters? It’s super cool for me, as I’ve never really seen them in great detail before. I mean, the attention to detail is fascinating!! The podracer posters on the walls, the little model ships, the large accumulation of metal junk! It takes us back to Anakin’s roots! I think we’ve seen other Jedi’s quarters before, but I can’t remember for certain, but even if we did, they didn’t have a lot of character. Comparably, Anakin’s room looks a whole lot like his bedroom on Tatooine, and gives you a look into his interests aside from peacekeeping and war general-ing; it actually looks like a normal bedroom with loads of personality!
Anyway, as Anakin was blowtorching, Obi-Wan came in. To which I’m like “YAY it’s been so long since we’ve had actual conversation with him!”. And he’s sorta awkwardly wondering if Anakin’s okay… and awkwardly brings up “Yoda was sensing something wrong with you and I kinda am too… and it sorta seems like it has something to do with Clovis… what’s up, bro?”. Naturally Anakin’s all “It’s all cool, just worried about him being a bad guy and junk. And Senator Amidala nearly, you know, died and stuff last time they hung out.”, but Obi-Wan isn’t buying it, after all, this certainly isn’t the first time Padme’d courted danger (um… “courted” was a poor choice of words). And that’s where the lightswitch was flipped for him: Anakin still has a thing for Padme! He probably found it pretty obvious back in Episode II with Anakin’s majorly awkward-schoolboy-crush hello and gundark-nest nerves, and I could see points throughout TCW where he might’ve wondered, but now it’s a lot clearer. I guess this is why it didn’t take too long for him to figure out why Padme wasn’t too keen on giving away Anakin’s location in Episode III. Obi-Wan’s response is not too far from what a parent would say to a tween in distress over their first zit: “Feeling feelings is completely normal! I mean, you know I had a thing for Satine and stuff. Acting on them is the problem.” I was pleasantly surprised to see the Duchess get brought up again. While The Lawless got wrapped up well ultimately, I couldn’t help but wonder how Obi-Wan made peace with her passing in the interim. Maybe I’m crazy, but when I look at his face at that moment, I’m not sure that Obi-Wan’s passive mentioning of their “thing” is totally “past-tense”… good ol’ Obi-Wan, always trying to be the best Jedi he can be, even at expense of his own emotions. But at risk of me spending another long paragraph on this subject, I’ll save other thoughts on them for other posts and we’ll get back to the situation at hand. Because as we know, Obi-Wan doesn’t do the “hate” thing like Anakin more-or-less does. Anakin responds the way most people do at that kind of assumption: “WE’RE JUST FRIENDS.” and Obi-Wan’s all “Uh huh. Well, then you shouldn’t have any problem turning the jealousy train around back to station”. I love this scene to pieces because it shows just how great Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship is, that they (or at least Master Kenobi) can be honest about stuff, even sticky areas like this. Of course, Anakin sorta still chalks it up to wanting to protect the Senator, while we know that he probably didn’t get much out of the conversation, especially knowing how this episode ends.
On the other side of things, awkward moments continue to dominate as Padme and Clovis get down to business… sort of. Apparently, the two just got back from the opera (again, something I would’ve never imagined to exist in the SW universe), and it was not Padme’s idea to have gone in the first place. We meet up with them at her place, making a nice meal between friends while they continue to dig deeper into the conspiracy. They get to talking a bit, recalling their own series of adventures in SW-ian politics, as we see Clovis not-so-subtlely attempt to slip his arm around her (Ugh he has it so so bad for her). Padme stands up and quickly changes the subject and asks her just-friend how he got involved with the Muuns to start with. Turns out, as he explains, his family worked for them and later, when he was orphaned, he was practically adopted by them. One has to wonder… if he spent his tween and teen years with the Muuns, how did that even go? Middle school and high school are a time when everyone’s concerned about how they look and who they are, and when you’re the only kid in school with hair and without a crazy lanky frame and tiny eyes, that must’ve been extremely awkward. Yeesh. No wonder he must’ve liked Padme from the get-go as young politicians, he probably had almost forgotten what a human girl looked like! Haha. Unfortunately their moment of honesty is broken up by Clovis again trying a bit too hard. Padme’s not cool with it. And thennnn Clovis voices something I figured he never bring up: “Waaaaait are you into that Jedi or something? Aren’t Jedi not supposed to be romantically involved with anyone or risk getting kicked out of the Order?” I remember when they first showed a fragment of this episode in the trailer for Season 5 (even though it turned out not to be in Season 5), and the theory I put together was that Anakin accidentally revealed his and Padme’s relationship to Clovis and he (assumptively still a big-time Seppie) in turn had major dirt on them that he could reveal to the big shots, risking everything about their well-kept secret. As I learned, that was slightly off, but he still sorta figured it out. And to that, Padme’s all “We’re just friends! Seriously, you shouldn’t just assume.” which, oh gosh… Clovis sees as an opportunity to make a move. Now, I’m sure that Padme could’ve handled herself and pulled out her blaster on him again, but seconds before that potential kiss could’ve happened, ANAKIN WALKED IN. Of course, I can’t help but wonder why Anakin was coming over in the first place. Was he coming over to potentially patch things up between the two of them? Was he bringing her coffee as a sweet little “heard you were working late” gift? Did he leave his cloak in the closet again? Well, whatever it was, Anakin forgot about it and turned his focus to his evident rival and Force-choked and Force-threw the Separatist prettyboy against the wall. Clovis isn’t one to be intimidated, though, and incites a little hands-on no-Force, no-Lightsaber fistfight. Clovis is pretty good, but nobody told him that Anakin has a robotic arm and has a major advantage. All light description aside, this fight is seriously kind of terrifying; Anakin is seriously dangerous in this fight, and he is in no way holding back, even as Padme keeps yelling at them to knock it off. Until in a sudden moment of clarity, Anakin realizes what he just did. I’ve enjoyed seeing the light, fun, chill, not-angsty side of Anakin in the TCW series, so it always knocks me for a loop when the dark, not-fun, scary, beyond-just-angst-this-is-anger side of him shows up in the later seasons, and the connection between this CG Anakin and the Episode III Hayden Christiansen Anakin becomes clear. It’s not a bad thing, really, it’s just an often harsh reminder of what is to come; without darkness, the light doesn’t shine as brightly, shall we say. So anyway, Captain Typho heard some of the scuffle and came with the guards to find out what happened. Now, as Clovis is on his knees all black and blue, he had total right to oust Anakin in this situation, but he did a rather honorable thing and said “Some hired attacker came in and did this, if it weren’t for General Skywalker, I’d probably be a lot worse off”. And Anakin, kinda shocked at Clovis covering him, agrees to that statement as the guards help Clovis to a medical droid. Without notice from anyone else, Anakin gives her this “OMGosh I’m so sorry” look and Padme gives him this “You’re so sleeping on the couch tonight!” glare. And it only goes downhill from here…
Clovis turned out to be pretty much OK, but he was in for yet another surprise this evening — his med droid doc turned out to work for Count Dooku, and the Count gave him a call. Now this always gets me wondering… why a medical droid? Of all the medical droids in the vicinity, how was it just this particular one? And how would Dooku have known Clovis would need a medical droid? My theory is that there was a hired attacker involved, but by the time he parked outside the window, he caught a glimpse of Anakin and Clovis’ scuffle and was all “Nuts! That guy beat me to the punch! Eh at least I’ll still get paid…”. However it happened, Dooku was here talking to him. Dooku offered him a new job opportunity as the new head of the banks, and at first Clovis is all “No way! I know you Seps haven’t been handling money right!” but Dooku knows how to convince, and before he knew it, Clovis had a new position. And that could either be really good or really bad ultimately… and I’ve got a bad feeling it’s the latter.
So as for Anakin and Padme, there was more than a little tension between them. Anakin finally realizes he’s gone too far with the whole situation and he’s sorrier than sorry about it. He apologizes profusely even before he questions what he thought he saw, to which again Padme repeats herself “NOTHING. HAPPENED. HE’S. JUST. A. FRIEND.”. While Anakin hasn’t been a shining example of goodness or anything lately, I still can’t help but feel sorry for him somehow. I’m reminded much of the part in the episode Overlords where Anakin has a vision of his mom and he confesses to her how much he feels like he’s failed his mom and how much he wants to protect his wife. While we know that that wasn’t really Shmi, she only spoke the truth, that Anakin’s overprotectiveness and determination to keep her alive “isn’t love”. Of course, we know Anakin has attachment issues, but he wouldn’t really get it until the day he’d save Luke and in turn Luke would save him. But before I get on to a really long paragraph on my thoughts on the “love vs. attachment” thing, let’s get back to the story. Padme’s crazy frustrated with the whole thing, and she just sorta breaks down and says “Look, if we can’t have trust in the midst of this already living-a-lie marriage…” I shuddered to hear the next part, “…we shouldn’t see each other anymore, at least not for a while” O.O I never thought I’d see the day when the kinda most important couple in the entire Prequel Trilogy would break up! And it’s really bad considering they’re married and they’re breaking up! Even if it is temporary it’s still sad! Aughhh!! 😥 Yet in Episode III they’re all lovey-dovey and cute and nothing’s wrong (at least not until Anakin goes all dark side on us)! So that was that… Padme goes off to have a good cry and Anakin drives off in his starfighter wondering what the heck just happened.
The next day, Clovis seems to have brought the bad guy Muuns to justice and steps up in front of the Senate to potentially be the new head of the banks. He’s met by quite an angry crowd, but with Padme’s support, somehow the vote ends up going to him in the end (Though Bail still isn’t convinced, no vote from him…). And Anakin can only watch in the background, looking a little lost, and watching this guy he still doesn’t trust majorly win with help from the wife he still loves. After the meeting, Anakin turns to Palpatine for a little counsel, and the Chancellor admits that, evidently, he’s doesn’t entirely trust Clovis either. Palpatine encourages Anakin that the two of them just continue keeping an eye out… but we can only imagine what the guy has planned that neither Anakin nor Padme and not even Clovis know about…
*Whew* I’m finally done! But it was pretty fun to write this one, considering what a great episode it is! I suppose we can only wait and see what will happen next in all this craziness, because I’m quite aware that all these Uncovering blogs are ending on intriguing terms. But until next time…